watchpoint: confidential | {harper/ike}
Jun 20, 2019 22:03:28 GMT -5
Post by dars on Jun 20, 2019 22:03:28 GMT -5
In the hours since the others had gone to sleep, Harper had nearly dozed off more times than she could count. When the thought began to regularly cross her mind that they could all probably sleep at the same time and be fine, she forced herself onto her feet, tired eyelids forced open, even more tired legs forced into movement. Fayre and Elite had curled up on either side of her, neither touching her but both close enough to. She looked down at them, at the way Fayre's hair framed her face so neatly, at the way Elite's breathing hitched slightly every few breaths or so. Eos, much like Harper herself, was more comfortable alone. She slept several feet from them, facing away and only ever moving when her lungs were inhaling and exhaling air. She wondered if she would have been friends with them if she had ever gotten the opportunity.
There was a world where she and Fayre were going for a night swim right now, sand beneath their feet, salt in their hair. There was a world where she met Elite by hiring him as a tutor, and now every time they saw each other he was trying to summon up the courage to ask her to the school dance. There was a world where Eos was her coworker, who sometimes came over after work to play board games. Fayre had a habit of stealing food from Harper's plate, Elite made her laugh too easily, Eos went along with her lies without being asked.
She would have been friends with them, she decided, allowing a small smile to spill across her face.
Would have.
She climbed the fallen cubicles, forced to stand on the tips of her toes or even leap just to reach the next level on several occasions. Eventually, she was about twenty feet in the air, feet dangling off the edge as she watched. The air, somehow, was even more still here, and she could see further and better. Some of the caged critters above her stirred restlessly, some of the braver ones even peered in her direction. The lights from the floor glinted red or gold from their irises, annoyed with her for disturbing their slumber. She muttered to them a quiet apology before she noticed a certain pair of eyes staring back at her that looked different than the others. She rifled through her bag until she found a pair of night vision goggles. She slid them on and her breath caught for a short moment.
A human. A tribute.
Ike.
She was pleasantly surprised for several reasons. Namely, that he wasn't dead, that he didn't look injured at all, and that he'd managed to climb up this far without alerting her.
There was a moment when her hand grazed her gun and she considered it; she hadn't killed the boy from 11. If she let Ike go the Capitol might lose patience with her. But, if nothing else, Ike had been kind to her thus far. And his weapon didn't appear to be drawn. Truthfully, he could have kept going and remained undetected if he'd truly wanted to, Harper was sure. She was more than a monster for them; this would be a way for her to prove it.
"Hey," she whispered, but the words were lost in the staleness of the air. She held up a finger to him, a signal meaning something along the lines of I'll come to you.
She shimmied down and over, scaling the sides of the empty cages and cubicles until she was only a couple pods away from him she stopped.
"What's up, neighbor? Don't suppose you have a cup of sugar I could borrow?" she said, smirking at him.
There was a world where she and Fayre were going for a night swim right now, sand beneath their feet, salt in their hair. There was a world where she met Elite by hiring him as a tutor, and now every time they saw each other he was trying to summon up the courage to ask her to the school dance. There was a world where Eos was her coworker, who sometimes came over after work to play board games. Fayre had a habit of stealing food from Harper's plate, Elite made her laugh too easily, Eos went along with her lies without being asked.
She would have been friends with them, she decided, allowing a small smile to spill across her face.
Would have.
She climbed the fallen cubicles, forced to stand on the tips of her toes or even leap just to reach the next level on several occasions. Eventually, she was about twenty feet in the air, feet dangling off the edge as she watched. The air, somehow, was even more still here, and she could see further and better. Some of the caged critters above her stirred restlessly, some of the braver ones even peered in her direction. The lights from the floor glinted red or gold from their irises, annoyed with her for disturbing their slumber. She muttered to them a quiet apology before she noticed a certain pair of eyes staring back at her that looked different than the others. She rifled through her bag until she found a pair of night vision goggles. She slid them on and her breath caught for a short moment.
A human. A tribute.
Ike.
She was pleasantly surprised for several reasons. Namely, that he wasn't dead, that he didn't look injured at all, and that he'd managed to climb up this far without alerting her.
There was a moment when her hand grazed her gun and she considered it; she hadn't killed the boy from 11. If she let Ike go the Capitol might lose patience with her. But, if nothing else, Ike had been kind to her thus far. And his weapon didn't appear to be drawn. Truthfully, he could have kept going and remained undetected if he'd truly wanted to, Harper was sure. She was more than a monster for them; this would be a way for her to prove it.
"Hey," she whispered, but the words were lost in the staleness of the air. She held up a finger to him, a signal meaning something along the lines of I'll come to you.
She shimmied down and over, scaling the sides of the empty cages and cubicles until she was only a couple pods away from him she stopped.
"What's up, neighbor? Don't suppose you have a cup of sugar I could borrow?" she said, smirking at him.
